Boys Lacrosse: Wissahickon routs Cheltenham, 14-1

CHELTENHAM — Through the first six games of the young season, Wissahickon, with a brand new head coach, has done an excellent job of progressing towards being a legitimate contender in its respective conference this year.

And while the Trojans weren’t going up against the toughest of competition on Friday, they still continued to show why teams shouldn’t overlook them when they appear on the schedule.

Six different Wissahickon players scored a pair of goals in what turned out to be a 14-1 win for the Trojans over the host Panthers in a Suburban One American Conference afternoon meeting at Cheltenham High School.

Zach Scannapieco, Luke Gomez, John Carozza, Austin Jones, Cole Kropnick and Tyler Zapach all scored two goals apiece to lead the Trojans (5-2, 2-1) to the easy victory, one which saw them outscore Cheltenham (0-3, 0-3) 7-0 in the first quarter and 10-0 by halftime.

Advertisement

“I think it was a great day to come out here and get everybody on our team involved in the game,” Wissahickon first-year coach Tom Walsh said. “It’s good to get the guys out there involved and get everyone playing and it also gives two teams a chance to compete and have fun and just enjoy the game of lacrosse.”

After Scannapieco, Gomez and Carrozza each scored two goals apiece in the first quarter, Austin Jones finished the period with a goal of his own and then opened up the second with another. Kropnick scored twice before the end of the half — including one in the final 10 seconds — to put the Trojans up 10-0.

“The first three games have been a learning process for us,” said Cheltenham coach Alphonso Stevenson, who is in his first year of coaching the Panthers after Cheltenham’s boys lacrosse program took a year off. “A lot of our guys are rookies and they are learning through the process of playing games. They only had four weeks to learn, but I see progress every game.”

Despite the 13-goal defeat, as well as the 0-3 start, the Panthers believe they have a bright future, as they know a slow start can be expected from any team which hasn’t played in two years.

“Every game, we are getting better,” Stevenson said. “Our weakness is our offense and we’re going to get better with that and we’re looking forward to the rest of this season. We’re really looking forward to the next week and improving our game.”

Cheltenham was able to put one goal on the board, as Max Martin beat Wissahickon sophomore goalkeeper Jack Meyer midway through the third quarter to put the Panthers on the board.

Wissahickon also received a second half goal from Alex Ortiz, who also added two assists. In his first season playing varsity lacrosse, senior Tommy Kline scored a goal in the fourth quarter — his first of the season.

“It’s great to get a lot of the other guys in there,” Walsh said. “It’s good to get the opportunities to score and to make plays for all the guys. These kids work really hard at practice and they don’t always get the opportunities to step up in game situations. It’s also good for our starters to cheer on their buddies and to see them be successful.”

Gomez, Zapach and Jones also added assists for the Trojans, while Meyer stopped one shot in net to earn the win. Luke Tarzia led Wissahickon with three groundballs, while Kropnick added two.